Portal:Telephones

The Telephones Portal

A telephone, commonly shortened to phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals that are transmitted via cables and other communication channels to another telephone which reproduces the sound to the receiving user. The term is derived from Ancient Greek: τῆλε, romanized: tēle, lit. 'far' and φωνή (phōnē, voice), together meaning distant voice.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be granted a United States patent for a device that produced clearly intelligible replication of the human voice at a second device. This instrument was further developed by many others, and became rapidly indispensable in business, government, and in households. (Full article...)

A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable wireless telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones (landline phones). This radio frequency link connects to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, providing access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephony relies on a cellular network architecture, which is why mobile phones are often referred to as 'cell phones' in North America. (Full article...)

A smartphone is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multimedia playback and streaming. Smartphones have built-in cameras, GPS navigation, and support for various communication methods, including voice calls, text messaging, and internet-based messaging apps. Smartphones are distinguished from older-design feature phones by their more advanced hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, access to the internet, business applications, mobile payments, and multimedia functionality, including music, video, gaming, radio, and television. (Full article...)

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Phone surveillance is the act of performing surveillance on phone conversations, location tracking, and data monitoring of a phone. Before the era of mobile phones, these used to refer to the tapping of phone lines via a method called wiretapping. Wiretapping has now been replaced by software that monitors the cell phones of users.

While mobile phone surveillance has been carried out by large organizations for a long time (e.g., to find clues of illegal activities), more and more of such surveillance is now carried out by individuals for personal reasons. For example, a parent may become a "text spy" to monitor a child's texting activity. This brings in the moral, ethical and legal question of who owns people's privacy. (Full article...)

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Types of phones -

A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable wireless telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones (landline phones). This radio frequency link connects to the switching systems of a mobile phone operator, providing access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Modern mobile telephony relies on a cellular network architecture, which is why mobile phones are often referred to as 'cell phones' in North America.

Beyond traditional voice communication, digital mobile phones have evolved to support a wide range of additional services. These include text messaging, multimedia messaging, email, and internet access (via LTE, 5G NR or Wi-Fi), as well as short-range wireless technologies like Bluetooth, infrared, and ultra-wideband (UWB).

Mobile phones also support a variety of multimedia capabilities, such as digital photography, video recording, and gaming. In addition, they enable multimedia playback and streaming, including video content, as well as radio and television streaming. Furthermore, mobile phones offer satellite-based services, such as navigation and messaging, as well as business applications and payment solutions (via scanning QR codes or near-field communication (NFC)). Mobile phones offering only basic features are often referred to as feature phones (slang: dumbphones), while those with advanced computing power are known as smartphones. (Full article...)

List of phone types

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A blue box is an electronic device that produces tones used to generate the in-band signaling tones formerly used within the North American long-distance telephone network to send line status and called number information over voice circuits. During that period, charges associated with long-distance calling were commonplace and could be significant, depending on the time, duration and destination of the call. A blue box device allowed for circumventing these charges by enabling an illicit user, referred to as a "phreaker", to place long-distance calls, without using the network's user facilities, that would be billed to another number or dismissed entirely by the telecom company's billing system as an incomplete call. A number of similar "color boxes" were also created to control other aspects of the phone network. (Full article...)

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General images -

The following are images from various telephone-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Top of cellular telephone tower (from History of the telephone)
Image 2Elisha Gray, 1876, designed a telephone using a water microphone in Highland Park, Illinois. (from History of the telephone)
Image 3A sign in the US restricting cell phone use to certain times of day (no cell phone use between 7:30–9:00 am and 2:00–4:15 pm) (from Mobile phone)
Image 4Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems, 1997–2003 (from Mobile phone)
Image 5Scrapped mobile phones (from Mobile phone)
Image 6Mobile payment system (from Mobile phone)
Image 7A user consulting a mapping app on a phone (from Smartphone)
Image 8Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 9Antonio Meucci, 1849, developing a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 10A French Gower telephone of 1912 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (from History of the telephone)
Image 111896 telephone (Sweden) (from History of the telephone)
Image 12The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an artificial intelligence-powered feature (from Smartphone)
Image 13A sign along Bellaire Boulevard in Southside Place, Texas (Greater Houston) states that using mobile phones while driving is prohibited from 7:30 am to 9:00 am and from 2:00 pm to 4:15 pm. (from Smartphone)
Image 14The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. In 1983, it became the first commercially available handheld cellular mobile phone. (from Mobile phone)
Image 15"Device options" menu of Samsung Mobile's TouchWiz user interface as of 2013, accessed by holding the power button for a second (from Smartphone)
Image 16Receiver schematic, c.1906 (from History of the telephone)
Image 17Active mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (from Mobile phone)
Image 18
Bell prototype telephone stamp
Centennial Issue of 1976
(from History of the telephone)
Image 19A German rotary dial telephone, the W48 (from History of the telephone)
Image 20Typical mobile phone mini-SIM card (from Mobile phone)
Image 21Innocenzo Manzetti considered the idea of a telephone in 1844 (from History of the telephone)
Image 22Blackview A60 Andoid Go mobile phone smartphone cell phone showing the front-facing camera is put in notch display (from Smartphone)
Image 23Inserted memory and SIM cards (from Smartphone)
Image 24The HTC Desire, a 2010 smartphone with optical trackpad and search button (from Smartphone)
Image 25People using phones while walking (from Mobile phone)
Image 26A 19th century acoustic tin can or "lovers' telephone" (from History of the telephone)
Image 27Martin Cooper of Motorola, shown here in a 2007 reenactment, made the first publicized handheld mobile phone call on a prototype DynaTAC model on 3 April 1973. (from Mobile phone)
Image 28The master telephone patent granted to Bell, 174465, March 7, 1876 (from History of the telephone)
Image 29Tooltip in Kiwi Browser, a Google Chromium derivative, reveals the full URL by hovering over the tab list using the stylus on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. (from Smartphone)
Image 30A New York City driver holding two phones (from Smartphone)
Image 31Two decades of evolution of mobile phones, from a 1992 Motorola DynaTAC 8000X to the 2014 iPhone 6 Plus (from Mobile phone)
Image 32Optical track pad sensor of an HTC Legend, 2010. (from Smartphone)
Image 331917 wall telephone, open to show magneto and local battery (from History of the telephone)
Image 34Cellular networks work by only reusing radio frequencies (in this example frequencies f1–f4) in non adjacent cells to avoid interference (from Mobile phone)
Image 35Smartphone with infrared transmitter on top for use as remote control (from Smartphone)
Image 36Apple iPhone smartphone (from History of the telephone)
Image 37Android smartphones (from Mobile phone)
Image 38Dupuis and Haug during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992 (from Mobile phone)
Image 39A high-capacity portable battery charger (power bank) (from Smartphone)
Image 40E-waste in Agbogbloshie (from Smartphone)
Image 41A Nexus 6, an Android smartphone, displaying the Main Page of the English Wikipedia (from Smartphone)
Image 42Thomas Edison invented the carbon microphone which produced a strong telephone signal. (from History of the telephone)
Image 43Historical marker commemorating the first telephone central office in New York State (1878) (from History of the telephone)
Image 44A smartphone touchscreen (from Smartphone)
Image 45A text message (SMS) (from Mobile phone)
Image 46Replica of the telettrofono at Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci of Milan, Italy, invented by Antonio Meucci and credited by several sources as the first telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 47Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants. 2014 figure is estimated. (from Mobile phone)
Image 48Tivadar Puskás proposed the telephone switchboard exchange in 1876. (from History of the telephone)
Image 49A driver using two handheld mobile phones at once (from Mobile phone)
Image 50Actor portraying Alexander Graham Bell in a 1932 silent film. Shows Bell's second telephone transmitter (microphone), invented 1876 and first displayed at the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia. (from History of the telephone)
Image 51Philipp Reis, 1861, constructed the first telephone, today called the Reis telephone. (from History of the telephone)
Image 52Private conversation, 1910 (from History of the telephone)
Image 53Reis's telephone around 1861, first device called telephone (from History of the telephone)
Image 54Mobile payment system. (from Smartphone)

Selected biography

Charles Bourseul (28 April 1829 – 23 November 1912) was a pioneer in development of the "make and break" telephone about 20 years before Bell made a practical telephone. (Full article...)

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Selected images

Image 1A Funke + Huster telephone inside the Idrija Mine, Slovenia
Image 2A traditional North American rotary phone dial. The associative lettering was originally used for dialing named exchanges but was kept because it facilitated memorization of telephone numbers.
Image 3Historical telephone with the German imperial eagle and the heraldic shield of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty; Vollmer's Mill, Seebach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Image 4Foldable smartphones
Image 5Landline call blocking in use
Image 6A cordless phone
Image 7Mailbox and public telephone in Haßfurt, Germany
Image 8A Western Electric candlestick phone from the 1920s
Image 9A Northern Electric telephone, model number N415H, circa 1950 (probably)
Image 10Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
Image 11A Bell Canada payphone with digital display
Image 12Automatic electric Rotary dial telephone
Image 13Public telephone, Bucharest, Romania
Image 14Emergency telephones, on the Paris-Bordeaux railway line, Saint-Saviol station, Vienne, France
Image 15An Italian gettone telefonico (telephone token) from 1945, which was used in Italian phone booths
Image 16Push-button telephone
Image 17The AUTOVON was a worldwide American military telephone system that was built starting in 1963.
Image 18Track-side emergency brake and emergency telephones at the platform of the metro station Aspern Nord, Donaustadt, Vienna, Austria
Image 19Rotary dial telephone, probably from Belgium; the circuit diagram inside is in Dutch and French
Image 20Telephone booth box art outside the Tower of London, 2012
Image 21A historic telephone booth in Skansen, Stockholm
Image 22An example of a K6, the most common red telephone box model, photographed in London in 2012
Image 23A police box outside Earl's Court tube station in London, built in 1996 and based on the 1929 Gilbert Mackenzie Trench design
Image 24Android smartphones
Image 25Wooden wall telephone with a hand-cranked magneto generator
Image 26Acoustic telephone ad, The Consolidated Telephone Co., Jersey City, New Jersey, 1886
Image 27Apple iPhones
Image 28Photograph of the interior of the Prairie Grove Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth in Prairie Grove, Arkansas, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

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Telephony

Telecommunications systems

Bulletin board systems

Call centre

Call recording

Telephone crimes

Digital subscriber line

Telephony equipment

Telephone exchanges

Fixed mobile convergence

History of the telephone

Information by telephone

Voice over IP

Local loop

Modems

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Telephony in popular culture

Privacy of telecommunications

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Mobile phones

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Mobile phones with an integrated hardware keyboard

Mobile phones with infrared transmitter

Mobile phones with mechanical zoom lens

Mobile phones with pressure-sensitive touch screen

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Telephones in the news

1 December 2025 – Mass surveillance in India: India's Ministry of Communications orders smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Sanchar Saathi, a government-run cybersecurity app on all new devices within 90 days and to push the app onto older models through a software update. The ministry says the app is essential in "curbing misuse of telecom resources for cyber frauds and ensuring telecom cyber security". (AP)

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Telephony
Types	Landline Cable telephony Mobile phone Satellite phone Photophone
Accessories	Answering machine Caller ID
Connectivity	Cable protection system Communications satellites Fibre-optical Free-space optical ISDN Mobile phone signal POTS PSTN Submarine cables VoIP
Calls	Missed call Misdialed call Nuisance call Phone tag
Applications	Fax transmission Telephone calls Telephone newspapers Théâtrophone Video calls
Telecommunication portal Telephones portal

Emergency telephone numbers
Emergency telephone Harmonised service of social value
000 (Australia) 102 (India) 106 (Australia) 108 (India) 110 (Iran, Japan, China) 111 (New Zealand) 112 (Europe and others, worldwide GSM mobile networks) 119 (parts of Asia and Jamaica) 120 (China) 122 (Austria, Egypt, and Bosnia and Herzegovina) 123 (Colombia, Egypt) 128 (Mercosur member states) 190 (Brazil) 911 (Iraq, North America E-911 system, Philippines) 988 (North America Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) 999 (Bangladesh, UK and others) 1122 (Pakistan)
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